CHARLOTTE, N.C. (March 19, 2014) – The ETSU track & field program will begin the 2014 outdoor season with a visit to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to compete in the Charlotte 49er Classic, Thursday – Saturday, at the Irwin Belk Track & Field Center.

This appearance in the 49er Classic will mark ETSU’s fourth-consecutive showing in the competition. Last season, the Bucs medaled in 14 events including Katie Hirko (Oley, Pa.) taking the top spot in the 3K with a time of 10:13.73 and Dede Edgecombe (Spartanburg, S.C.) racing to a third-place time of 13.76 in the 100 meter hurdles. In addition, Filip Jalovy (Modrice, Czech Republic) took third in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:52.23, while Anders Ludvigsen (Odense, Denmark) finished third in the men’s 3000 meter run with a time of 8:41.18.

Competition at the Classic will begin on Thursday with decathlon events starting at 11:45 a.m. as Evaristo Valls (Elche, Spain) and Nathan Rivera (Knoxville, Tenn.) will look to continue the momentum gained during the indoor season in these events.

Action will pick back up on Friday morning with a carry-over of decathlon events and will progress toward men’s and women’s field events beginning at 11 a.m. which will continue on throughout the day. Running events will commence at 1 p.m. on Friday with 110 meter hurdle prelims and will run into the night before finishing with 5000 meter run final heats which are set to launch around 9 p.m.

Field events will start things off on Saturday and will progress into the afternoon. Running event finals will start with 4x100 meter relays at 11 a.m., and will continue over the course of the day with action at the Classic wrapping up with 4x400 meter relays at 4:30 p.m.

ETSU enters the outdoor season following a strong indoor campaign where multiple school records were broken. In particular, Edgecombe broke her school record in the women’s 60 meter hurdles on more than one occasion, culminating with a first-place time of 8.39 at the 2014 Atlantic Sun Indoor Championship. In addition, freshman Brett Squibbs (Rock Hill, S.C.) started his ETSU career off on a high note by breaking the previous ETSU record in the men’s indoor pole vault with a launch of 5.15 meters on Feb. 8 at the Samford Multi & Invitational. As a group, the ETSU track & field program is trending upward heading into the outdoor season.

Meet information and schedules for the Charlotte 49er Classic can be accessed by visiting Charlotte49ers.com, while live results can be viewed at FlashResults.com. Complete recaps of ETSU’s performances each day will be available at ETSUBucs.com.

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